Different
by theimprobableone
Summary: Sam is gone. Annie is Alone. It's 1981, and 2006. What if things were different? And what if Sam was right? What if Annie had met him in 2006? Would he still have loved her? Sam/Annie, UK version, daft little idea I had, rated for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

_BBC own everything, I don't, sadly._

_I found this on my laptop the other day from AGES ago and decided to post it, all mistakes are mine._

***

Annie Tyler didn't know what to do with herself. She'd cried until she couldn't cry anymore, but then what? She couldn't do anything, there was just this pain inside her, a gaping hole where her heart had been. She couldn't bring herself to move, she had no reason too leave her bed in a morning, nothing other to do then stare at the empty space that once belonged to the man she loved. So many things that they hadn't had, hadn't done. They could've had children…but they hadn't. And now Sam Tyler was gone forever; and Annie only had his name.

Weeks past.

Each day she waited for Gene Hunt to come thumping on her door and telling her to get her arse in gear and come back to work. But he never did.

It was Chris that told her they were transferring to London, and she was invited to join them, but she couldn't. Sam had lived here. With her. This was the city he loved, she couldn't abandon it. No, she had to carry on, save the people Sam had loved so much, starting with herself.

1st of January 1981 -a new year. Her first year in 7 years without Sam.

Annie was seeing it in alone, lost in memories, surrounded by Sam's things. Her eyes were clouded with tears and she opened the nearest thing to her, numerous pieces of paper fell out of it, all in Sam's scrawl. She picked up one of them.

**The 1980's**, it read. Sam would never see the 1980's. She read on, this was the file that Sam had made for her when he first arrived, the day he nearly jumped. On the TV Big Ben chimed away, out on the streets, people could be heard drunkenly starting to sing 'Old Lang Syne'. Annie picked up a fistful of papers and read on.

_Should old acquaintance be forgot,_

_And never brought to mind? _

Films that hadn't been made yet…

_Should old acquaintance be forgot,_

_And old times since?_

Important dates and events…

_For auld lang syne, my dear _

_For auld lang syne,_

Famous people and future PM's…

_We'll take a cup of kindness yet, _

_For auld lang syne._

Technology and computers…

_For auld lang syne, my dear,_

_For auld lang syne,_

People and places from Sam's childhood…

_We'll take a cup of kindness yet_

_For auld lang syne_

And his life in 2006...

What if things were different? And what if Sam was right? What if Annie had met him in 2006? Would he still have loved her?

The questions that would never be answered formed almost a lullaby in Annie's head, she drifted, uneasily, into a dreamless sleep, still sat on her living room carpet, still surrounded by Sam Tyler's things.

***

This wasn't my flat. No, I looked closer, this was my flat. But what the hell had happened to it? Nothing was right, I'd woken up on the floor where I'd fallen asleep, but not surrounded in the things I treasured most, pictures, notes and most of all, Sam's old leather coat, though the more I fell asleep with it draped around me- comforting- as Sam's arms had once been, the less it smelt of him and more of me. Where was it now?? What was going on?

There was an annoying buzzing noise from somewhere close by. Like a phone ringing, I looked around then familiar yet unfamiliar room, there was no landline. I soon found the culprit, a small thing, almost like a radio, but with numbers and a screen.

_Hadn't Sam mentioned a mobile phone?_

Unsure what to do, I looked at it uncertainly, was it a phone? Where were the wires? It continued to vibrate and ring, I looked at the buttons, there was a green one, green meant go right?

I pressed it. I could hear voices.

"Hello?" I asked shakily, tentatively lifting it to my ear.

"Annie! Annie!" The voice called in despair.

"Hello?" And the line went dead.

***

_So what do you think?? Good? Bad? Absolute rubbish? Reply please, but only if you want to, I'm lazy and am easily un-motivated, reviews help my confidence and writing speed! _

_Bolly _

xxJMxx


	2. Chapter 2

_I've only just realised how long it's been, I am so sorry, my life has just been so busy, I'm not happy with this chapter but I couldn't leave it any longer before posting, again I am sorry for the delay, oh and also, I changed a tiny bit in the first chapter after ashes to ashes confirmed that they did actually marry.  
_

_Bolly xx_

Chapter two

What would he do? What would Sam do? I think madly. I've been doing that more and more recently, what would Sam do? How would Sam solve this? Sometimes I could almost hear his voice in the back of my mind, but the voice on the phone wasn't Sam. I am sure. Why am I even thinking that? He's dead. He's gone. _But they never found his body. _That thought had been eating at me for almost a year. In my heart I know he's gone, so why do I still hope? But where AM I? What am I doing with a mobile phone? Does that mean Sam was right all this time? And what has happened to me?!?!

Breath Annie. Breathe. Think about it logically, one step at a time.  
1 Where am I? This obviously isn't my flat.  
2 What has happened to me?  
3 Am I dreaming? God I hope I'm dreaming.  
4 Is this where Sam came from? Is this the place that Sam tried to get back to so often?  
What is the date?  
I have to get outside.

~*~

It's so real. So real in fact, that it's unreal. I can't be dreaming, I'm sure you can't dream in such detail. The sights, the smells, the sounds, the feel. Everything, absolutely everything, is described in such immense detail, even the sky's different. My flat, my clothes, my belongings, everything. I stand outside for a while taking in everything around me, buildings, metal and glass. A thriving, bustling city. But where is it's heart?  
The hot tears fall down my cheeks, the enormity is too much to bare. Sam had been right. All those years.  
I know where to go.  
Sam.  
I'm in the future, I must be, the place where Sam came from, so Sam must be here!  
What if....  
What if when he drowned he finally went home? What if he's waiting for me? What if that is why I am here?  
CID. I have to get to the station. He'll be there. He must be.

~*~

The station's exterior has barely changed in 1/4 of a century, a fresh lick of paint but that is it. I'm home, comforted by the familiarity of my workplace, I enter the building. It is so light. I've never seen the place flooded with so much natural light.  
"Hello" I said nervously to the woman behind the desk. "Could you perhaps tell me the date?"  
"You've come to the Police station to inquire as to the date? Really?" The young uniformed oficer retorts.  
"The year then? Please."  
"What?" The woman looks at me uncertainly, she doesn't know if I'm quite all there.  
"The year. Please."  
"2006, is that all? Do you need help?"  
2006. I was right. He's here, just a few floors above me, he's here!  
"I need to speak with the DCI"  
"On what grounds? Do you have an appointment?" And she gives me a steely look.  
"Not exactly, but he'll see me. I know he will. I'm DS Annie Tyler." I hold up my shiny new warrant card that I just knew would be there in my back pocket.  
"Oh! The new DS! I'm so sorry Ma'am! Follow me." Her attitude changes pretty quickly and she takes me up the stairs I know so well but are so unfamiliar.

CID has changed the most, the sky scrapers, the glass structures, that bloody awful Hilton Hotel and CID has changed more than anything. It's light, airy, clinical, white, there are computers and other little electrical things that I can't see are needed. Police work looks like it had become a lot more complicated and less about justice as it is about figures and ratings.

"So where's DCI Tyler?" I ask the uniformed woman from the desk.  
"He's not here ma'am, I've brought you to see DI Roy, that office there" She points to a small office with a name on the door. I just want to know where Sam is. And I try to ask, but the officer is gone. So I knock on the door. Other members of CID watch me as I walk by them. No-one speaks to me.  
"Come in." The voice of a woman tells me. So I do.

"Good morning, I take it that you are our new Detective Sergeant. Welcome to A Division." TheAsian looking Inspector pauses, looking at me oddly before continuing "We weren't actually expecting you for a few days, but the sooner the better really, we need every pair of hands right now. I take it you've heard about our DCI?" She asks me.

What about the DCI???

"Sam Tyler?" I ask uncertainly.  
"Yes. So you've heard?" She looks down at the floor sadly.  
"No, what's happened?" I try to hide the tears that threaten to fall.  
"He was...He...He had an accident." She tells me, tears filling her own eyes. A look of guilt on her face. And I know who she is. Maya Roy. Sam's _girlfriend_ from before...so long ago.  
"The car. The coma." I whisper. No. No. No.  
I don't hear what she says next. I don't hear anything.  
I'm too late. It's too late. He's gone. He's gone.  
He never wakes up.  
Does he?  
But he was with me for seven years. I can't wait seven years.  
I don't know what to do.  
I want to go home.  
But do I?  
What's waiting for me at home?  
If I stay here...he might come back...we might have a chance.  
So I have to stay. Wait. Make a life in the future.

~*~

_I promise to update sooner this time, I'll try to have the next chapter by the end of next week,_

_thanks for reading,_

_xJMx_

xxxxxx


	3. Chapter 3

_I'm sooooooo sorry of exactly how long this has taken, but I've written the last chapter to post after this so it won't be too long this time I promise, again, my apologies xxx_

Chapter 3

My name is Annie Tyler. Something happened and I woke up here in 2006. Am I mad? Am I dreaming? Or have I really travelled in time? Maybe I've been given a fresh start to live here, to find a new home in Sam's town.

It took me time, but eventually I got it, I learned to live in the 21st century. I read the history books; I mastered all of the new technology and became a woman of the times. It sickened me to know that nothing had changed, it had only got worse, twin towers, global warming, Iraq...the list went on and on.

I'd always thought of myself as a modern girl, able to easily adapt to change but those first months got the better of me. Often I found myself alone and crying, I'd never drank much, but I drank now, in those hours of need as though the burning alcohol would somehow burn away the emptiness. I was wrong, it was no better here than it was there. I still could not see the man I loved. He was Maya's here. He was dead there.

What was this for? I wondered often. Why was I here? Was this punishment? Was this a chance? Was this...what?

I only had one friend here, another DS and I had a sneaking suspicion that his interest in me was mainly in his trousers, however it made me feel better knowing that I had someone to talk to even if he doesn't understand.

"Annie? Annie?" Daniel asked.

"Sorry, away wi' the fairies" I smiled, we were eating lunch, but it wasn't a date. I'd made that clear.

"What's on your mind?"

"Jus' well...home"

"Where is home Annie? The accent is Manchester, right?"

"Yeah, it's not so much 'ome Dan, it's what I lost"

"Which was?" Dan asked a lot of questions, but he'd offered a lot of himself in the past months, I'd not even told him I'd been married.

"My husband."

"I'm so sorry...messy divorce?"

"No. He died. He was a copper too; we worked together, in...London. It was during a chase. He was my hero"

"I'm so sorry. You never said"

"No-one asked"

We ate in silence after that. That was the day that I first decided to go to the hospital. I decided to see him.

I said my goodbyes to Dan, who of course offered me a ride home; I refused telling him that I had places that I needed to go.

I only began to panic as I reached the hospital steps, could I do this? I didn't even know which ward he was in. Would he even be there?

"Hello, I'm Annie Tyler and I was wondering which room Sam Tyler is in? I'm here to visit him" I nervously asked at the reception of the coma patient's ward.

"Are you any relation?" She replied

"You could say so."

"Follow me miss."

"Mrs" I corrected automatically.

He was on Hyde ward.

Hyde. I chuckled inwardly.

And then I saw him. I saw him. So young and so still.

"Sam." I rushed to his side. I held his hand. I kissed his forehead. "You're really here." The tears rolled down my cheeks. "You were always right, you were never mad"

I hadn't even noticed the woman in the corner of the room. She could only be Sam's mother. The woman I met all those years ago.

"I know you don't I, dear?" She asked.

"In another life maybe Mrs Tyler"

"I remember a red dress....what's your name?" Time had not been kind to the elder woman, who's once beautiful face showed all the lines of time.

"Annie, Annie...Cartwright." I used my maiden name; another Tyler would be a little too weird.

"I'm sorry dear, I have to go, look after my boy, Annie"

I knew that she was leaving for my benefit and would probably return to her son's beside the second I had left, however I was grateful for the time I was given.

Suddenly, it was clear. Clear as crystal.

"This is so I could say goodbye, isn't it?" I cried. "I know you never wake up. Sam, I love you, you knew that, you had seven years to know that. Just never forget it. Goodbye." I kissed his cheeks, and then brushed my lips across his. It was the last kiss we'd ever share, and he'd never even know it.

I left the hospital with a clear head, I would go to London, I would try to get on with my life. If I ever got back to my time I may even join the Guv.

Sam had been the most important person in my life, but my life was not over without him. Even if it felt like it was.

******

_thanks for reading!_


	4. Chapter 4

**Finally...**

Chapter 4

As Annie Tyler drove south -possibly forever- to try to re-start her life, in his hospital bed in Hyde Ward DCI Sam Tyler awoke from his prolonged coma telling tales of a long ago time and a man called Gene Hunt. He underwent months of psychiatric testing and therapy before being allowed back to work and was then requested to send tape recordings of his dreams to a police psychologist in London who was collecting reports like these from officers that underwent severe trauma, Drake, he thought her name was. She was writing a book. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. Did he really want the whole of the police service to know of his delusions?

*LOM*

London was a cruel city, no different to Manchester except its geographical location. I was moving on, slowly. I almost left the force, except it was all I knew, all I wanted. My new team accepted me readily; I became firm friends with a DC named Jayne and was slightly in awe of our DI, Alex, she was also a psychologist, so we got on well. It was nice to have some female colleagues, it was nice not to have the men leaving rude magazines on your desk and making dirty jokes, but in some ways I almost missed it. Crazy right?

My life was slowly turning around, I was starting to move myself forwards. There weren't many questions about my life before; of course I was asked why I had transferred. I told them that it was because of my husband's death. I received condolences and we got on with the job. There were just as many murders in this place as there were before. More so. Day after day it got a little easier; I just wished that I had his leather jacket or a picture. My life was going okay, I was doing okay.

That last day started like any other, with coffee from an American chain called Starbucks and an apple on the way out of the door, it's funny how it used to be me that told Sam to slow down and make time for food. I arrived at the office early, which was odd for me, the DCI wasn't in yet, but Alex was and she looked busy. Already she had surrounded herself in files and papers. Probably more case studies for her project.

Suddenly a voice filled the room, a voice that I would always recognise.

**"My name is Sam Tyler, I had an accident and I woke up in 1973..."**

My head pounded. Sam was alive. Sam was awake. Sam. Sam. Sam. For all the miniature steps that I had taken forward since Manchester, I took twice as many back at that moment.

"DI Drake! Where did you get that tape?" I did little to hide my excitement.

"Oh! Annie, I'm so sorry, I didn't realise that anyone was in yet! This?" She indicated the stack of tapes on her desk "It's for my book, Sam Tyler's circumstance is remarkable, he was hit by a car and whilst in his coma he believed that he was in 1973."

"When did he wake up!"

"A few months ago. Did you know him? He's DCI at your old division, that's such a coincidence!"

"Yes, you could say so."

He'd woken just as I had left for London; after all of my waiting we'd missed each other again.

"How did he get back?" I wondered aloud. How did he get back when he died?

"It's quite remarkable actually. His brain created constructs, one in particular, DCI Gene Hunt was the tumour on his brain, in the end he had to choose, leave his fantasies to die in an illegal heist, or stay trapped inside his own head in 1973."

"Illegal heist?" I didn't remember that. Oh! That was the day! That was the day of our first kiss. He didn't go home then! That wasn't right!

If Sam had been awake for months then why hadn't he gotten my note? Why hadn't he come looking for me? Had his mother not told him? Did he not believe her?

*LOM*

"_Mrs Tyler?" I asked her as she sat by her son's bedside. Today was the second and the last time that I would see Sam in this world, I hoped that she'd understand that I wasn't giving in on her son, just that I couldn't cope with losing him again._

"_Yes dear?"_

"_I'm going t' London this afternoon, I just wanted to say goodbye, and to ask you a favour."_

"_Anything"_

"_If- _when" _I corrected myself for her sake "Sam wakes up, could you give him this?" _

_I handed her an envelope, inside was a photograph of me stood outside the station in 2006 with a short message on the back. I had a million things to say to Sam but when the time came, the words did not. So it just read; _

_Sam,_

_Please believe in me, I need you._

_A x_

_She smiled and took it from me, a silent goodbye, with a single tear and a soft kiss pressed onto Sam's lifeless cheek I left the hospital and Manchester._

*LOM*

"DI Drake, I'm sorry, I have to go!"

"Go where?" She asked as I was already halfway out of the door

"I just have to go, I'm sorry."

And I left. I'd probably get into a hell of a lot of trouble for that later, but I didn't care, I just had to get to him.

That drive was the longest time of my life, the minutes passed like decades as I travelled through county after county, not once stopping for anything.

It was funny, I thought as I drove back how I'd tried desperately to leave Sam behind me and now I was willing to risk my whole career to see him again even though he may not even believe that I exist.

What was I doing? How would I know where to find him? What would I say? Would he even recognise me?

My heart dared to hope that everything would be okay; I dared to believe that I could have him back.

I knew exactly where to go. Where it started. Where it all started.

I barely knew what I was doing by the time I arrived in our old stomping ground. I didn't stop to explain myself as I burst into the old station; I was acting on autopilot as I headed upwards.

"Annie!" Bloody Daniel shouted from behind me, running to catch me up. "Why're you here?"

"Where's Sam Tyler?" I asked, not even breaking stride.

"I don't know, I think he went to the roof"

I knew it, I ran faster.

The roof had become our place over time, when a case got too much Sam would come up here and at first I followed him, scared that he'd do something rash, over time I knew that he was going to stay and that he would never do something like that to me. I trusted him completely.

I burst out into the sunlight expecting to see his smiling face waiting for me. But he wasn't. As my eyes adjusted to the daylight I just caught a glimpse of the man I loved sprinting towards the edge, my picture in his hand.

"SAM!" I screamed, knowing that I was too late, my voice was lost in the roar of the wind and he disappeared over the side, gone forever. Gone home.

If I'd been seconds earlier. Just seconds, I could've saved him.

My screams were all that I heard after that, the demented wailing of someone who had lost everything. He'd chosen to die.

Or... he'd chosen to go home to the younger me, to a time where we were happy, to a time where everything was perfect.

Now I really didn't understand. What was I doing here? Why did it hurt so badly? Why was I being tortured this way? I just wanted to leave; to escape...I was standing on a roof.

I was standing on a roof. Right back at the beginning, I was alone, but I understood. I had been shown this to show how much he loved us, he'd given up everything that he fought so hard for. For me.

I didn't see it as suicide. Like I don't believe Sam did. Not even as I jumped and felt myself falling, no, it wasn't suicide because I wasn't dying. I was waking up. I was going back home.

*LOM*

**A/N So...I finally finished this, however after the recent Ashes to Ashes final, I am toying with the idea of an epilogue with Gene and Annie, it depends on how people receive this chapter I guess, anyway, thanks a bunch for reading, please feel free to comment :P**


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